


Awake and Alive

by Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus



Series: Brockin' and Rollin' [2]
Category: Venom (Comics)
Genre: (NOT GRAPHIC AND SYMBY CURES IT STRAIGHT AWAY!!!), All the angst is almost immediately yeeted out the window as soon as it appears, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Family Reunions, Cancer, Canon is dead I killed it with my own two hands, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Love, Me Yeeting Eddie Brock Into A Pile Of Happiness, Other, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Singing, So much love I'm serious, Suicidal Thoughts, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-18 03:19:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16987134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus/pseuds/Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus
Summary: A prequel of sorts to my other comic symbrock fic, The One Where Eddie Brock Has One (1) Good Day (Fuck You Cates) but it can be read on its own.Shameless schmoop detailing on how Symby recovered and how Eddie got in touch with his siblings and Flash. Donny Cates don't interact.No betas we die like men.





	1. Chapter 1

**“Eddie?”**

Eddie sighed, not even trying to wake up. Yet another dream when he heard his Other's voice, perfect. He had them often, bitter memories of what he had lost. They talked to him, mocked him, begged him to not silence them with pills. God, what a fool he was for wanting their voice gone.

The dreams always left as soon as he even thought about believing that they were anywhere near reality, leaving him hollow and aching for something - someone - beyond his reach.

**“Eddie!”**

The ones where the symbiote didn't even talk to him were the worst. They just kept repeating his name over and over, as if begging him to save them from… well, it varied from nightmare to nightmare. Sometimes it was Knull, sometimes a different enemy. Sometimes it was Eddie himself.

**“Wake up, Eddie!”**

Nope, no way. He knew that waking up would chase the voice away, and its absence hurt more than even the cruelest words it hurled at him. Besides, he really didn't want to put up with another day of misery. Perhaps staying asleep wouldn't be so bad after all. He almost wished for a coma.

**“Don't even think such things!”**

No bills, no sleeping under bridges or in cheap hotels, no loneliness gnawing at the void where his heart used to be (it died along with his Other.) What a life. Perhaps it would even let him get a good night's sleep for once!

**“What is wrong with you, Eddie? Why are your thoughts like this?!”**

Then again, dying would be so much easier.

**“No!”**

Yes! Sure, it was a terrible sin, but one more stain on his soul would barely make a difference. And maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that his Other would be there too-

 **“We** **_are_ ** **here, Eddie!”**

-complete and not silent. Their voice would not leave him upon awakening, because death was a slumber one couldn't wake up from. Besides, it wasn't like anyone cared about him, right?

**_“Wrong!”_ **

Flash was dead, Mary was living a happy life somewhere else, and the brother who barely remembered him had a new, better family.

Nobody would miss him.

**“Eddie, stop it!”**

It was he who should've died instead of Flash.

**“Don't you dare say that!”**

After all, his Other always liked him better.

**“LIES!”**

Flash was kind. Flash was a good friend, a good person and a good host. If they had been with Flash, none of this would have happened.

Eddie was done being the second best. He was done with being lonely, unloved and miserable in a-

**“YOU'RE NONE OF THESE THINGS!”**

-a world that didn't care about his pathetic excuse of an existence. It wasn't like he had anything to live for, either; his Other was gone,

**“I'm not! I'm right here! Why do you keep saying that?!”**

so nothing mattered. There was nothing keeping him bound to this world.

**“EDDIE!!!”**

Eddie awoke with a gasp, the shriek leaving his head spinning and heartbeat racing. He sat up in the hotel's sorry excuse of a bed, the springs creaking with his every move. It was still night time if the darkness in the room was anything to go by. Indeed, the alarm clock read 3:22 am.

He rubbed his face. “I hate these dreams,” he muttered. They always left him cold, exhausted and miserable, and always alone.

 **“You're never alone,”** a remnant of their voice muttered as if mocking him. **“I'm here with you.”**

He shook his head. “Yeah, but you're not really, are you? You're just an echo, a memory of their voice and personality summoned by my subconscious. The one I love is gone.”

Confusion gnawed at his mind, but why? He had nothing to be confused about, and-

Wait, he was awake now, so why hasn't the voice disappeared?

**“Why would I want to leave you?”**

Alright, that's it. Eddie Brock was finally losing his mind. It was finally happening. He giggled hysterically, voice breaking towards the end.

Concern flooded his entire being. **“Eddie, what's wrong? I'm here, I'm not going anywhere. Why do you keep thinking that I'm gone?”**

“Because you are,” Eddie frowned, sitting up straight and staring into the darkness of his shitty hotel room. “The Maker said that you're pretty much brain-dead after our fight with Knull, and you haven't spoken a word to me ever since we left the facility.” Why wasn't the voice disappearing? Has he truly lost the pitiful remains of his sanity? Was his loneliness _this_ bad?

 **“The Maker? Facility? What are you talking about?”** the voice seemed confused, and then finally seemed to shut up. However, instead Eddie felt an achingly familiar tingling that usually came over his brain when his Other looked through his memories. Indeed, flashes of his most recent past flew before his eyes in rapid succession: The Maker, the cemetery, his old house, seeing the boy he assumed was Dylan living with another family, happier than he ever was, endless days filled with cold and loneliness.

It was over as soon as it began, leaving him blinking away dark spots. The feeling of concern was back, stronger than before as his heart ached for a reason he couldn't identify.

 **“Oh, Eddie,”** a tendril rose up to gently caress his face in the same way his Other used to. They emerged from beneath his skin, forming an imitation of a face to gaze at him for the first time in months. Damn, it was clear that they slept through a hell of a mess.

**“Sweet, darling Eddie.”**

This couldn't be happening.

Eddie sat there, mouth hanging open like an idiot's, staring up at his Other. They were touching his face, caressing him so gently it hurt.

They couldn't be alright again. Couldn't be. It would only hurt more if he believed it.

And yet…

And yet they were, as if nothing had happened.

“A-are…” he tried to speak around the emotions lodged in his throat, but to no use. It was getting difficult to breathe as hope beat its wings againt his ribs. A thought would have to suffice, it seemed. _‘Are you real?’_

The symbiote nodded, toothy maw parting to hiss out a reply.

**“I'm here, Eddie.”**

Now, that voice wasn't just in his head. The words were spoken out loud, piercing the silence, and Eddie realised that, for the first time in months, he could actually _feel_ their presence in his mind.

It couldn't be… he reached out to cradle their jaw, fingers coming into contact with a familiar texture. They didn't dissolve beneath his touch like they sometimes did in the more vivid of his nightmares. No, they…

“You're here,” he choked out with so much wonder that it brought them both physical pain. Them. Both of them. Plural. Finally.

His symbiote, his darling was back.

The tears came without a warning. One moment he was cradling their face in his hands, and then he was pressing them to his chest as rending, heaving sobs wracked his - no, _their_ \- body.

“My darling,” he repeated the phrase over and over again, clinging to them like a lifeline as they wrapped their tendrils around him to return the gesture tenfold, stop him from breaking, falling apart at the seams. “My darling, my darling, my darling.”

 **“Eddie,”** they murmured into their shared mindscape, shifting in his embrace to create a semblance of a torso and arms to hug him properly, their touch making their heart ache more than it already did. **“Sweet, sweet Eddie. I'm here, we're here, we're not going anywhere.”**

He would probably die if they did.

 **“Shhh,”** they cooed, threading finger-like tendrils through his hair. **“No more dying. No more loneliness. We won't let anything like that happen ever again.”**

“We,” Eddie sobbed out, this one simple word shattering him completely. _We._ At last. At long, excruciating last, _we._ “Oh my god, darling. Love. It's been so long, I thought that you…”

They craned their chin up to press a kiss to his cheek, wiping off some of the tears that cascaded from his - _their_ \- eyes.

 **“Hush, love,** ” they whispered, breath warm against his skin. **“Breathe now. Breathe, Eddie. We're here with you, it's alright.”**

He did as he was told, focusing on taking deep, spasming breaths to calm down. He was still high on their presence, relief and ecstasy mixing together to create something so overwhelming that all he could do was weep. So many months of sorrow, grief, mourning; so many nights spent wondering if he would ever get back the one he thought lost forever. So many shed tears, arms aching to embrace but finding nothing but loneliness.

And now…

“Kiss me,” he blurted out, suddenly frantic. “Please. I need you to kiss me.”

There was a pause as they looked at him with concern, but they complied, bringing their teeth to his lips in the most tender kiss he ever experienced. It would've broken him if he weren't already in pieces.

He kissed back, puffy eyes fluttering shut as he eagerly lost himself in this shared sensation, drowning in their togetherness and never wanting to resurface. The void beckoned him and he gave in without hesitation, losing his sense of self somewhere around the moment when his Other parted their teeth and slid their tongue into his mouth.

No more Eddie Brock. No more _me._

There was only _we._

 _They_ didn't remember lying down. _They_ didn't remember falling asleep in each other's arms, projecting endless love into _their_ shared subconscious. _They_ didn't remember any of that, because it didn't matter.

What did matter was that _they_ were finally together, and not even a god could change that.

 

~~~

 

Eddie woke up a few hours later, shutting up the alarm clock with a fist. He sighed, not even bothering to open his eyes, and tightened his hold around the inky mass in his arms. Maybe, just maybe, if he kept his eyes closed it wouldn't turn out to be a dream after all.

 **“Eddie,”** a tendril snaked around his wrist, sprouting fingers just to hold his hand. **“Not a dream, love, we're back.”**

There it was again, that wonderful _we._ Eddie smiled, opening his eyes to gaze into the symbiote’s opal white ones.

“Good morning, love,” he whispered, not wanting to break the spell by speaking too loudly.

They nuzzled under his chin, emitting a noise not dissimilar to a purr. **“Good morning.”**

There were things they needed to discuss, apologies they needed to utter, but Eddie was more than content to just lie there for the time being, simply cherishing his Other's presence. He sighed deeply, curling around them and cradling them even closer to his chest, so close that they were a mere thought away from merging into one. Not yet, though; he needed to see them, feel them in his arms, their presence outside his body grounding him to reality and helping him believe that he wasn't in yet another dream, too happy to be true.

His Other, meanwhile, busied themselves with running a quick analysis of their shared body. Back when they were too weak to think and relied solely on instinct, they simply healed any wounds that appeared without a second thought or pause to survey Eddie's organism for subtler injuries.

He was thinner than they remembered, and had a few shallow scratches and faint bruises his mind stopped registering. They fixed them up without issue. What worried them more, though, was the stuff in his lungs. It wasn't quite pneumonia, but they weren't in peak condition either. And what was that over there, this strange lump of cells that made Eddie cough up blood a few days before they regained consciousness?

A quick trip into Eddie's more distant memories and they knew the answer.

Ooooh no, no way, not on their watch.

One eyeblink later, Eddie found that he was able to breathe normally for the first time in weeks.

“What did you do?” he asked.

 **“Got rid of an intruder,”** came the reply. **“There were also nanobots in your blood. Trackers, we assume, probably placed by the man in a stupid helmet.”**

“The Maker?”

**“That one.”**

Huh. He should have expected that sort of thing, really. “Thank you, love.”

 **"** **Anything for you, Eddie.”**

He smiled, placing a kiss on the nearest tendril. A delighted purr answered him, followed by more kisses and laughter. How long has it been since he laughed this sincerely? Or at all?

They lied there for what felt like a couple eternities, simply looking at each other and enjoying the other's company. Eddie knew that they should get something to eat soon, probably chocolate to celebrate, but somehow he couldn't find it in himself to move. The bed was warm and comfy, his Other was running their tendrils through his hair in such a soothing manner, and anyway they were holding on to him so tightly that he wouldn't be able to move even if he wanted to. Which he didn't. The hotel staff would have to carry the bed out if they wanted to get rid of them.

His Other laughed, the sound washing over him like cool spring water and yet enveloping him like a loving embrace. He never wanted to hear another sound in his life. It was like music, more beautiful than any song or musical score ever composed.

“I love you,” he said without thinking, his whole self emanating love in hopes that it would be enough to convey what mere words couldn't. “I love you, darling. I love you so much.”

Come to think of it, Eddie didn't remember the last time he said these words. Strange, because he wanted nothing more than to say it over and over again, shout it from the rooftops, carve it into their very flesh so that neither of them could ever forget it.

A delighted gasp. The symbiote swirled beneath their skin while the part of them settled next to him proceeded to kiss all thoughts out of him.

 **“Love you too, Eddie!”** they cried into their shared mind, dizzy with joy.

He laughed, too lovestruck to speak, and settled for bombarding his beloved with obscene amounts of phenethylamine.

_‘I love you so much my love my darling I thought I would never hear your wonderful voice again I missed you so much my sweetheart love of my life you have no idea how happy I am to have you back nobody could compare to you or how you make me feel I love you so much I love us so much once we get out of bed I'm gonna buy you the biggest chocolate cake in San Francisco I promise there is nothing I wouldn't do for you you're everything I need everything I could ever want and I-’_

Another kiss sent his remaining thoughts scurrying away. All that was left was a faint background hum of _‘I love you I love you I love you’_ repeated over and over, each time more genuine than the last.

His Other purred once again, drinking in the affection like the finest wine in the universe. They retreated back into their body, wrapping Eddie in a familiar embrace, their bodies melting into one.

Into Venom.

They could feel Eddie's comfort and joy as they took this form. As far as they could tell from his memories, it used to be just him in there instead of them, like a soul split in two, incomplete without its other half.

 _‘Darling?’_ they heard his thoughts, still somewhat sleepy.

**“Yes, Eddie?”**

_‘Could you sing for us? I missed the sound of your voice.’_

He did; they could feel traces of this longing even beneath the joy of their reunion. The emotion tasted bitter and made their insides twist into a knot. They never wanted to experience anything like that again.

 **“Anything you want, Eddie,”** and in their shared voice, the voice of Venom, they began to sing:

 _Strangers in the night_  
_Exchanging glances_  
_Wondering in the night_  
_What were the chances_  
_We'd be sharing love_  
_Before the night was through?_  
_Something in your eyes_  
_Was so inviting_  
_Something in your smile_  
_Was so exciting  
Something in my heart told me I must have you_

  
_Strangers in the night, two lonely people_  
_We were strangers in the night_  
_Up to the moment when we said our first hello_  
_Little did we know_  
_Love was just a glance away, a warm embracing dance away_  
_And ever since that night_  
_We've been together_  
_Lovers at first sight_  
_In love forever_  
_It turned out so right  
For strangers in the night_

About halfway through the second verse, Eddie fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

“So, what happened to you?” Eddie asked over lunch (they slept through breakfast.)

 **“We do not know,”** his Other replied, sneaking out of his sleeve to steal a French fry off the plate. **“When a Klyntar gets badly hurt, they go into a hibernation of sorts - a standby state. It's like our mind sleeps and heals while the rest of us runs on pure instinct in order to survive while we're like this. It's for safety, but we do not know when we awaken. My hibernation should have lasted longer given the extent of our injuries.”**

So they were just taking a hell of a nap, they mused. It would explain why the symbiote didn't remember anything between this point and their fight with Knull.

 **“It hasn't happened to us in a long time,”** they seemed almost apologetic. **“We almost forgot it's something we can do. Sorry for upsetting you.”**

Eddie raised their arm to give them a quick kiss before they disappeared back into their sleeve. “Don't worry about it. I'm just happy that you're okay now.”

They purred, rubbing against their face like an affectionate cat. **“We love the beard, by the way. Very fuzzy.”**

Welp, there went the plans of shaving it off. Eddie laughed, giving the beard a slow stroke as the symbiote wove between their fingers.

**“You should grow it out longer so that we could hide in it.”**

“We'd look like a Viking! Or a metalhead!” They could almost see themselves in the middle of a metal concert, drowning in a sea of hairy, screaming people as other hairy, screaming people screamed on the stage. Nope, too loud for them.

 **“Viking metal is a thing, you know,”** they quipped, a tendril poking their side playfully **“Not our type of music, though.”**

“Mhm.”

It felt so good to be able to talk to them again and get an actual response. There, in the safe confines of their hotel room, they could be as casual as they wished to without needing to worry about weird glances or suspicion.

The TV was on, playing some sitcom which served more as a background noise to their conversation than entertainment or any sort. The symbiote swiped another french fry from their plate, munching away happily. Eddie watched them, hand propping up his chin and food completely forgotten.

“My darling,” he hummed, perfectly aware that he looked like a lovestruck idiot. “My sweet, dearest shadow.”

They looked up at him, cocking their head to the side a little.

 **“A shadow never leaves you,”** they replied, long tongue flicking to lick their lips. **“Remains with you even when unseen, makes sure you're never alone.”**

“Quite an apt comparison, eh?” Eddie chuckled, suddenly remembering that the fries on the plate were also for him. He ate one.

 **“So good with words, our Eddie,”** they gave him a wide grin, about ninety percent teeth and ten percent face. **“A true journalist.”**

It seemed that his Other brought their luck back with them because the paper Eddie had sent his CV to in a fit of desperation a couple weeks prior came back to him with a job offer.

More money meant more luxuries, for example cake. They should get some to celebrate, preferably chocolate.

_‘There's a bakery not far away, darling, we'll get something later.’_

They did a mental equivalent of a happy little victory dance, one Eddie found disgustingly adorable. **“Did we ever tell you that you're our favour host, Eddie?”**

A scrap of a memory, flickering like a candle in the wind, words almost impossible to make out among the static.

 

_A simulation. Snow falling in large, fluffy flakes, piling on top of gravestones as they - as Eddie stood in front of a simple, unremarkable grave._

_“Hey, Flash,” he said, voice catching in his throat. “Not sure what I'm supposed to say, really. Feels kinda… wrong, you know? Me being here… instead of you.”_

_He hesitated briefly, unsure if the sentiment should be voiced. Ah heck, he needed to get it out or I'd eat him from the inside._

_“My Other-” he paused, and sighed. “Our Other, I guess I should say… they always liked you better.” Just because he was at peace with it didn't mean that it didn't hurt. “Hell, everyone did, I guess.”_

 

**“Eddie…”**

 

_“I always acted like it didn't bother me,” he carried on. “Like, I was the original, so I was just the…” he shook his head, “...I don't know… the default or something, but the truth is…”_

_He swallowed around the sorrow in his throat. The pain, the helplessness. It should have been him._

_“...it rips me up, Flash.” His voice came out almost as broken as he was. “They think about you - our Other, I mean - all the time.”_

 

**“???”**

 

_“They don't think I know that, but I do. I can feel it. Even now, with their voice gone, I can still feel them… pulling toward you…”_

 

**“Eddie, our mind was switched off during our stasis. You couldn't have felt our thoughts because we literally didn't have any. We have no memories from that time but we can vouch for that.”**

 

_“It's…” Eddie blinked away tears (uncaused by the wind or snow.) “It's just tough being someone's second best, you know?”_

 

The memory vanished like a snowflake in the wind, leaving their brainscape silent like the cemetery they just returned from.

Eddie frantically tried to swipe his insecurities under the carpet, bury them beneath happier memories and thoughts that wouldn't give away just how pathetic he was. Fuck. Way to ruin the moment, Brock. Good job.

His Other stayed quiet for a few moments. He couldn't decipher their thoughts, but they seemed to mull over something. Finally, they took control of their arm and gave him a hearty, sincere whack on the head.

**“Eddie, we love you more than life itself, but you're the biggest idiot in the universe.”**

He rubbed their head, having just found out the hard way how strong their body was.

“My stupidity balances out your brilliance, love,” he muttered dryly. “Am I wrong, though?”

 **“Yes!”** more of them emerged from their body to form a torso with arms just so they could pinch the space where the bridge of their nose would be if they had one. They sat on the bed beside him. **“We thought it was obvious! That you knew! Eddie, we. Love. You.”**

_‘You also loved Flash…’_

**“As a** **_friend!_ ** **What made you think we'd choose him over you?”**

A cascade of thoughts, images. All the instances when Eddie hurt them, betrayed their trust, made all the wrong choices. They were juxtaposed with Flash’s kindness, his triumphs where Eddie had failed. Flash was smarter, kinder, funnier, a better strategist and a better host. A better friend. A better person. Flash wouldn't have wallowed in his misery, wouldn't have drugged them with pills. He would have defeated Knull without sacrificing Rex’s life, and countless others as the dragon symbiote reduced hundreds of lives to cinders. He wouldn't have put their life at risk like Eddie did.

Flash was just… better. In every single way possible.

The symbiote sighed - a low, hissing sound - and wrapped themselves around their body like a blanket, head coming to rest on Eddie's shoulder, their cheeks touching.

 **“Eddie,”** they cooed.

No response.

 **“Eddie, is that how you really feel?** ” They didn't have to ask; they saw the memories, the thoughts that haunted Eddie's mind night after night. They remembered them being one of the first ones they read after awakening.

Nothing, and then a barely perceivable nod.

They nuzzled against his face, hoping against hope that it would loosen the knot in their chest. They could sense shame radiating from their beloved. Shame and… fear? Buried deep, but very real fear of not being good enough, of being abandoned again, of more lonely nights and the aching emptiness that gnawed at his heart like a parasite.

_‘Please don't leave me. I only just got you back. I wouldn't survive it.’_

Their Eddie. Their precious Eddie. It seemed that they woke up just in time; who knew what those bottled up emotions would have driven him to?

Another memory, another truth uncovered.

 

_Eddie was done being the second best. He was done with being lonely, unloved and miserable in a world that didn't care about his pathetic excuse of an existence. It wasn't like he had anything to live for, either. His Other was gone, so nothing mattered. There was nothing keeping him bound to this world._

 

Eddie's shoulders slumped in resignation when the dream-memory ran its course.

“I'm sorry, love,” he sighed the most pathetic sigh that ever left their lungs. “It's just… things were really bad without you. I- I wasn't coping very well and I guess I was feeling…”

**“Useless? Lonely? Worthless? Disposable?”**

“Yes, exactly.”

His Other pressed a kiss to his jaw. **“Stupid, darling Eddie.”** Their tone was gentle, loving. **“You might be a disaster, but you're my disaster. Mine. Just like I am yours.** **_We_ ** **are Venom. We chose you.** **_I_ ** **chose you. Flash is-”** they paused, **“-was a friend, but you? You are everything to us, to me.”**

_‘Flash was better than I could ever be.’_

**“There are plenty of people better than you, Eddie, but it doesn't make our,** **_my_ ** **choice any less valid.”**

_‘Darling-’_

**“Don't. You are loved, Eddie. I love you more than anyone I've met in my entire life. Do you believe me?”**

“Yes.”

**“Liar.”**

Eddie exhaled shakily, their hands trembling just a little. The symbiote held on to them until they stopped.

 **“Say it,”** they urged. **“Out loud.”**

He shook their head. _‘I can't.’_ He no longer trusted himself enough to speak. _‘I've hurt you too much.’_

They made him stand up, walk to the bathroom, and look in the mirror. **“If this were true, would I still be here?”**

_‘No.’_

**“Do you see the point?”**

_‘I think so. I don't agree with it, though.’_

**“Tough luck. Say it. I won't let you go until you do.”**

Alright, he took a deep breath and, looking their reflection in the eye, said, “I am loved.”

**“And?”**

“I am worthy of the love you have for me.”

**“Keep going.”**

“I am not a second best, nor was I ever a second best.”

**“Almost there.”**

“And we will feast on anything and anyone who dares to insinuate otherwise.”

 **“Good,”** they emerged to press a congratulatory kiss to his cheek. **“Now, do you want to go and finish the fries?”**

Eddie cracked what could possibly be considered a smile if one squinted, and nodded.

Yep, the symbiote definitely woke up to a dumpster fire. Still, it was _their_ dumpster fire and they were going to smother Eddie with affection whether he liked it or not. Self-care, motherfucker.

_‘Language, love.’_

**“Shhh, it's called being dramatic. You do it all the time.”**

_‘Touché.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cemetery flashback was taken from issue #8 in case anyone was wondering. I changed Symby's pronouns from "it" to "them" to match the rest of the fic, but otherwise copied the stuff word for word.


	3. Chapter 3

They actually hummed under their breath as they prowled the sunny streets of San Francisco in search of a cheap yet tasty dessert. The weather wasn't shitty for once, perhaps reflecting their mood as they strolled through a park hand in hand (the symbiote shifted into a leather jacket and slid a hand out of the sleeve; **“Stealthy, Eddie.”** )

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there was a small, evidently family-owned bakery nestled in a small grove of maple trees. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. Eddie immediately dragged them inside, much to the symbiote’s delight.

**“Cake, Eddie?”**

_‘Yep,’_ he grinned. _‘Just for you.’_

The tiny old lady behind the counter gave them a warm smile when they entered.

“Hello there, sweetie,” she adjusted her glasses when they approached her. “What can I get for you?”

Eddie didn't even have to look around. He pointed at the display.

“That cake, please. The whole thing.”

He could feel his Other practically shriek with joy in their head. No wonder - the cake was one of their favourites: chocolate with cherries and cream on top. It was three layers tall, too, almost like the stuff people generally used for birthdays or weddings; the kind capable of feeding up to ten people.

The lady laughed as she packed it up. “What’s the occasion?”

Eddie felt himself smile, taking the box away from her and fishing out his wallet. “It’s…. Well, we, um, my significant other and I… we've been through a lot, and I'm happy that we can finally be together again, so I thought that I could surprise them by getting us a treat to celebrate.”

The happiness that suddenly flooded his side of their brain made them see fireworks for a good few seconds. They blinked them away and passed the lady the money.

“Ah, love,” she lit up internally, as if there was a miniature sun inside this petite lady in a flowery dress and apron. She made Eddie think of his grandma. “It always warms my heart, you know. Whoever they are, they sure are lucky to have a man like you, eh?” she winked, passing them the change. “Take care now, sonny, and enjoy the cake!”

“We will!” Eddie saluted merrily as they left the bakery after dumping a few dollars into the tip jar.

With a snack secured, they resumed their walk.

 **“Eddieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, you shouldn't have!”** the symbiote peeked out from beneath their collar to nuzzle against Eddie's cheek. They loved the way his beard scratched against their gooey form. Fuzzyyyyyyy.

Eddie bit his lip, trying and failing to hide a goofy smile. _‘For you, my adorable darling, anything.’_

He still couldn't quite believe it. There they were, taking a romantic walk through a park like it was the most natural thing in the world. Less than twenty four hours earlier, he was alone, jobless, miserable, and genuinely considering ending it all. While he was chasing that thought: the newspaper he applied to allowed him to mostly work from home, but still asked for a meeting in their HQ about once a month. This, of course, meant that they had to find a new apartment back in New York.

 _‘We should head back there soon,’_ he mused, adjusting the box in their grip. We. How wonderful it was to be able to say that again!

His Other gave him a quick peck on the jaw before disappearing back into the jacket's collar. They emitted a short pulse of affection, one he reciprocated and followed up with a stream of happy thoughts. This sparked an exchange of shmoop as they strolled through the trees, grinning and looking like there should be little cartoon hearts floating around their head.

 **“Back to New York, then?”** the symbiote halted their mental scream-exchange of nicknames. They evidently couldn't think of anything sappier than _‘my sweet chocolate éclair,’_ so they changed the subject to avoid admitting defeat. **“No, we didn't! Eddie, our chocolate éclair-ness is no match for your handsomeness, unparalleled by anyone and anything in the universe. Trust us, we've been around for six hundred million years, we know what we're talking about.”**

 _‘Sure thing, liquorice snaps,’_ Eddie chuckled. He still thought that he won, silly human. So cute and yet so naïve. _‘I heard_ that, _you know.’_

 **“You are, though! The most adorable dumbass in the universe.”** They snuck a couple tendrils to wrap around their neck, quickly forgetting about the question they posed. **“Our wonderful, illegally handsome dumbass.”**

They laughed, drawing some strange looks from the few people around them, but hey, who gave a shit?

 _‘Yep,’_ Eddie gave the nearest tendril a peck. _‘Yours, darling. Nobody else's.’_

The possessiveness that washed over him made their knees go weak.

 **“Ours, Eddie,”** they hissed, their hold tightening just a little as if to accentuate the statement. **“Won't let anybody else have you.”**

They spied a bench half obscured by a bunch of trees, and swiftly made their way there. If they were lucky, it would be unoccupied and they’d have a bit of privacy to enjoy the cake in peace.

“Yours,” Eddie murmured when they sat down, leaning back and closing their eyes. He was wanted, loved, worthy of being treasured and protected. There was this sense of belonging that wasn’t there previously, warmth wrapped around their heart and pulsing along with every beat. It was like a warm blanket, making all his residual anxieties melt away into nothing. He was wanted. Loved. Cherished. For once in his life, he wasn’t somebody’s second best.

The symbiote emerged to look at his face as he basked in this strange new feeling. They smiled, all needle-sharp teeth, feeling his contentedness radiating off him and drinking it in like hot chocolate after a long day.

Eddie.

Their precious Eddie.

They loved seeing him happy almost as much as they loved him, though they supposed that the two overlapped. After all, happy Eddie was still Eddie, and they loved him regardless of his mood or mental state, but there was this warmth that spread all over them when they heard his laugh, saw their lips curve into a smile at something they said, or felt the rush of phenethylamine every time they shared a kiss. So, so much warmth.

Their mindscape was so full of this warmth that Eddie didn’t even notice when his jacket melted off of him to take a seat by his side until he felt teeth press against his cheek.

He cracked one eye open. “Hey.”

 **“Hey,”** they replied. **“The cake is waiting.”**

“Yeah, I suppose it is,” he sat up, digging in the pocket of his jeans to produce two spoons.

…

**“Eddie, why do you carry spoons in your pocket?”**

“For the cake,” he gave them a disarming grin they couldn’t resist kissing off. Of course he planned it all out when they weren’t listening, sneaking the spoons into his pocket from the takeout place they got their lunch from. He crafted this insidious plan right under their nose, giving not even a thought away until they were in a sufficiently romantic and secluded location. What a clever devil their Eddie was.

They plucked a spoon from their suddenly limp fingers and dove for the box while Eddie was still recovering from the surprise kiss. It was a one hit K.O., a truly brutal move from his Other that left him dazed and gasping, his mind utterly devastated by this deadly sneak attack. The only thoughts he was capable of forming were _‘I love you,’_ and _‘I love you so much.’_ Everything else was stolen by this irresistible thief as they made away with his heart and body and soul and he wanted to give them everything his Other his darling the light of his life oh God and Mary in Heaven how he loved them there were no words capable of conveying how…

Laughter lit up their mindscape like the rising sun. **“You’re adorable, Eddie, but the cake isn’t going to eat itself.”**

He shook their head in an attempt to collect himself and saw his Other sitting cross-legged next to him, looking like a slightly smaller approximation of Venom as they happily inhaled the second layer of the cake. The first one was nowhere to be found. Upon catching his eye, they held up a spoonful while projecting a scene out of some cheesy romcom into their mind.

Rolling their eyes, he leaned forward and allowed them to feed him the cake one bite at a time. The taste was sweet and rich, something he forgot to notice before because his side of their brain was too busy being ridiculously in love with his Other. There seemed to be some sort of jam spread between the layers of chocolate cake, possibly cherry, which worked perfectly with the chocolate and cream, creating a delicious mixture of sweet and sour which melted on their tongues as they ate together, occasionally pausing to feed each other a spoonful or two.

About halfway through the final layer, the symbiote noticed that there was a bit of cream clinging to Eddie’s bottom lip, no doubt caught by his beard. They leaned forward to lick it off, tongue brushing over his lips.

Their heart skipped a beat.

He opened them without thinking, melting into the kiss and flooding their connection with a fresh dose of phenethylamine.

**“Are you happy, Eddie?”**

_‘LoveyouvloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyoumylovemydarlingyouhavenoideahowmuchIloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyouloveyoulo-’_

They smiled into the kiss. **“Eddieeeee? Earth to Eddie...~”**

Like a light bulb switching on. _‘Yes, love, yes, I’m happy. So so happy with you.’_

“I’d kinkshame but I’ve seen weirder shit on the internet.”

The new voice made them jump apart, the symbiote instantly disappearing into Eddie’s body, spoon falling into the grass.

The boy standing in front of them bent down to pick it up.

“I mean you know what, I’m not gonna judge,” he said. “As long as they make you happy, I’m not gonna complain. Still, can’t believe that my brother scored it with an alien while I can’t even find a girlfriend on this planet.”

“Wha- wh- Dylan?!” Eddie quickly wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt “Shit, look, we, um, _I_ can explain…”

“It’s fine, really,” Dylan wiped the spoon into his hoodie and sat down next to them. “As long as you’re Eddie Brock and not some weirdo who stole his identity or something. That would make this situation even more awkward than it already is.” He took a spoonful of the cake and ate it nonchalantly.

The symbiote sent out a mental equivalent of a **“?!!??!?!?!?!?!??!??!?!?!??!!??!?!?”** as Eddie desperately tried to think of anything to say.

Fuck.

What the hell.

Um…

“Yeah, uh, I’m Eddie.” With that established, he cleared their throat. “And you’re Dylan, right? My younger brother, son of Cunt- sorry, _Carl_ Brock an-”

“No, you got that right. That’s me. Good cake, by the way. Black Forest?”

“Er, yeah.”

“Nice, you guys have good taste. Now,” he set the spoon down, “this... alien thing? Symbiote? The one you were smooching, was that Venom?”

 **“No,”** they emerged from Eddie’s shoulders. **_“We_ are Venom, Eddie and I. Names are of little significance to me.”**

Eddie laughed nervously. “I tend to go with _love_ and _darling.”_

Dylan raised an eyebrow. “I cannot believe that you got laid before I did,” he muttered before taking off his backpack and producing a bottle of water. He took a long drink. “Anyway, I heard that you two were around and wanted to say hi after what, seven years? Eight?” There was a barely detectable edge beneath his nonchalant tone. “Dad died four years ago, my dudes, and I haven’t heard anything from you. Mary, at least, offered to buy me a ticket to Ireland and a place on her and Jess’s couch, but you? Radio silence. Any excuses?”

Wait… “Jess?”

“Mary’s girlfriend. Don’t change the subject.”

There was nothing they wanted more than for the ground to split open and swallow them whole.

The symbiote dug through their memories as Eddie experienced a few moments of mental dial-up noises.

“Okay,” he sighed, dragging their hands over their face. “All we’re gonna, fuck, _I’m_ gonna say is that our, I mean _my_ life has been a mess and a half since I finished college and half of the time I was too busy worrying over my own life to even think about risking yours by dragging you into our bullshit.”

Dylan folded his arms on his chest, giving them the most unimpressed stare they’ve seen in their entire life. “Aliens?” he guessed.

“Yes.”

“Dinosaurs?”

“Yup.”

“Spider-man?”

“Jesus Christ, you have no idea.”

“Criminals?”

**“Delicious.”**

“A giant fuckoff dragon symbiote?”

“How do yo-”

“The news. Now ask yourself the following question:” he leaned forward, brown eyes so different from Eddie’s own drilling into their very core. “How could any of this possibly be worse than our dad?”

They had no answer for that.

Fuck.

Shit.

“Okay,” Eddie sighed, “I barely had anything to my name, constantly on the run from this or that, living in hotels and shitty apartments at best and the fucking sewers at worst. Recently I blew up a building I was in to kill the aforementioned giant fuckoff dragon symbiote, and then I woke up in some weird facility crawling with armed guards. The next months were the exact opposite of pleasant, and I’ve only crawled out of the pit of despair at two in the morning today. I’m sorry for leaving you in the hellhole we called a house, but I can guarantee you that wherever you’ve ended up after dad died, you’re in an infinitely better position than you would be if I took you in.”

Dylan digested the speech for a few moments, expression not changing from vague disinterest.

“You could’ve at least called,” he said eventually.

“Don’t have a phone.”

“E-mail?”

“Deleted it the third time I became a wanted man.”

“Explains why Mary couldn’t get in touch with you,” he hummed, fiddling with the string of his hoodie. “And let me guess: you didn’t want to visit because it would be _too dangerous?”_ Cue finger quotes.

“Precisely.” Eddie ignored the sarcasm practically dripping from the last two words. “And hey, the family you have seems to be treating you well enough.” He remembered glimpsing Dylan in a crowd, walking with a man, a woman, and two other kids. All were laughing and chatting about something Eddie wasn’t able to make out. Their happiness, though, was more than apparent.

Dylan scratched his head. “Yeah, my friend’s family took me in,” he said. “Great guys, though it’s not like my standards are particularly high,” he cracked a grin. “And I think I get it. Sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to get the fuck out of their life asap. I’ll forgive you if you let me have the rest of this cake.”

Eddie couldn’t help but chuckle. “That’s not my decision to make,” he said, giving his Other a mental nudge.

They emerged, white eyes staring Dylan down. Eventually, they simply nodded.

~~~

Five hours, one cake, three boxes of takeout, and much, _much_ explaining later, they were walking Dylan home, still talking.

“So _how many_ kids do you two have?” he asked incredulously. “The asshole one, the five that turned into one and then back into five, and then this one that lobotomised a dude and hijacked his body? Seven?”

 **“Seven,”** the symbiote agreed. **“There was also Mania, but… well, she is no longer.”**

Eddie’s heart tightened at the memories that weren’t his. He squeezed his Other’s hand where it emerged from his sleeve.

Dylan gave them a comforting pat on the shoulder. He had to jump to reach. “Man, I’m sorry. Listen, it might not mean much after all this time, but we Brocks have to stick together. Hit either me or Mary up if you need anything, okay? I can give you the numbers if you want.”

They smiled down at him, aching to ruffle his hair. It was blond like Eddie’s. “Sure, we’d love that,” they said. “Being part of the family again and stuff.”

“I swear that I’ll try to keep in touch more often,” Eddie promised.

 **“We’ll make sure that he keeps his word,”** the symbiote supplied.

Dylan gave them the first truly sincere smile since their meeting. He shrugged off his backpack and produced a notebook and a pen.

“Fucking sick,” he scribbled some numbers down on a page and tore it out. “It’s gonna be nice to be the youngest again. Less responsibility, ya know.”

**“Don’t worry, being the middle child doesn’t make you any more responsible.”**

“Hey! I thought I’m irresistible, not irresponsible.”

 **“One doesn’t cancel out the other, Eddie,”** they laughed inside their mind.

Dylan rolled his eyes, making a gagging noise as he passed them the folded page. “Ugh, you two are even worse than Jess and Mary. Anyways, here are my and Mary’s numbers and emails.”

Eddie accepted the gift with something indescribable twisting inside their stomach. There it was. An offer of return. Reconnection. Acceptance.

“Are you sure that you want me back?” he asked before he could catch himself, voice strangely choked up. “We, uhh, _I_ wasn’t the best brother in the world…”

Dylan shrugged. “Still a brother.”

“I’m not sure if I wouldn’t put you in danger.”

“Do you want to know how dad died?”

They froze, something in Dylan’s voice giving away the answer even before he voiced it.

“I pushed him down the stairs. He was drunk, woke up at night for a leak. It was dark, he didn’t see me. The cops said it was an accident, that he tripped and broke his neck.”

They felt that they should say something, act scandalised or something. It was four years ago. Dylan was fucking ten at that time.

He was ten when he killed their father.

He was six when Eddie left.

The realisation hit them like a sledgehammer.

He was fucking six.

He was only a _child._

They hugged him. Tightly.

“I’m sorry that you had to do it,” Eddie choked out. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to do it myself. I’m sorry that I didn’t take you away from that fucker. I’m sorry that I didn’t find you a better home. I’m sorry that I didn’t check up on you. I’m sorry that I didn’t stay in touch. I’m so sorry, Dylan. I’m sorry for everything.”

To their unending surprise, Dylan actually hugged them back.

“‘S okay, bro,” he chuckled, “Mary’s reaction was pretty much the same, except that she didn’t even realise I was her half-brother at first. Get in touch with her, too, so that she stops worrying.”

Eddie pulled away. Mary? Worried about him?

Dylan rolled his eyes, probably at their surprised expression. “Aliens, crime, cannibalism, dinosaurs, dragons, aliens. Can you blame her?”

They shook their head.

“Get in touch, you two, and pray that Jess’s love for kids outweighs the wtf factor.” With that, they carried on walking until they reached a small but well-maintained house. There, Dylan stopped.

“That’s my stop,” he announced, holding out his hand. “It’s been nice.”

They shook it with a smile. “Likewise. Stay safe out there, kid.”

“You too. Try not to blow yourselves up again.”

~~~

Back in their hotel room, Eddie lied in their shitty bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“I have a family again,” he said when the realisation finished sinking in.

 **“I have a brother-in-law,”** his Other said, twiddling their thumbs, **“and a sister-in-law. What do I do with this information?”**

“I have no idea.”

The past two days have been wild as all fuck, Jesus fucking Christ.

There was nothing that could surprise them at this point, they thought.

~~~

Oh, how naïve they were.

The following day, they packed their humble belongings and booked a ticket back to New York in the early hours of the morning. The bus was empty, not a soul about aside from them and the driver.

And then, as they stopped in some backwater town Eddie was too sleepy to catch the name of, someone entered.

That someone then ignored all the empty seats and approached them.

“Excuse me, good sirs,” Flash Thompson said, “is this seat taken?”


	4. Chapter 4

Flash.

Flash Fucking Thompson.

Eddie rubbed their eyes in order to chase away any remaining traces of sleep, but nope. He was still there.

Flash Fucking Thompson was standing right in front of them.

Flash Fucking Thompson.

“I'm gonna take it as yes,” Flash Fucking Thompson said and sat down next to them as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

They just stared, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

 _‘Darling…?’_ If thoughts had a voice, this one's would be high and just and a little bit hysterical.

**“We see him too.”**

_‘Are we still dreaming?’_

**“Not to our knowledge.”**

_‘We saw the gravestone. Flash is supposed to be dead.’_

Flash, meanwhile, busied himself with typing something on his phone, happily oblivious to the fact that his place was six feet under.

They poked him in the shoulder - not too hard, just to see if he wasn't a ghost or something - causing him to look up from his phone.

“What's up?”

They finally found their voice.

“F-FLA…” they began, but he immediately pressed a finger to his lips, angling his phone so that they could read the words on the screen.

_“pretend my name s filip flanagan & ur my old friend” _

_“had 2 fake my death will explain later”_

...ah.

“FLA-AAAAAANAGAN!” they corrected. That would do. “Filip Flanagan! Dude, I haven't seen you in ages!”

He gave them a barely perceivable nod, quickly deleting the writing as his face broke out into a grin.

“Eddie Brock!” he exclaimed. “Holy shit, what a meeting! Sorry, I didn't recognise you because of the beard.”

Eddie chucked awkwardly, one hand moving to touch it. Was that what normal people did in these situations? “Yeah, I decided to grow it out a bit. Say, how long has it been since college?”

“Too long,” Flash replied. His fingers moved at lightning speed across his phone's keyboard. “How's life been treating you?”

_“heard about the dragon & knull” _

_“cant say much rn promise will explain asap”_

_“keep making stuff up idk who might b listenin”_

“Um, it's been okay,” Eddie chuckled awkwardly. Jesus, that was the worst lie he ever told. “I'm coming back from a… family visit in San Fran. You?”

“Oh, I'm coming back from a holiday in Bulgaria,” he smiled. “Can't wait to be back in New York.”

Back?! New York?! This was fucking nuts.

“We, um, _I'm_ heading back to New York too!”

_What the hell what the hell what the hell what the hell what the hell what the hell what the hell is happening._

Flash lit up instantly. “That's great! Dude, you should totally visit!”

Meanwhile, he typed:

_“well talk @ my place so i know its safe”_

They hesitated. The whole thing was just a tad too suspicious to be true, but on the other hand… the guy looked like Flash, talked like Flash, had the same prosthetics peeking out from beneath his trouser legs as Flash. And to be fair, faking his death wasn't so implausible.

They nodded. “Sure.”

_“thx i swear ill explain everything when we get there”_

Then, he yawned.

“Gonna catch some zzzs if that's okay with you,” he muttered. “Didn't get much sleep on the… erm, plane from Bulgaria. Horrible turbulences, I'm telling you.”

As the man who looked very much like Flash Fucking Thompson took a carefree nap next to them, the symbiote carefully peeked out of Eddie's shoulder.

 **“He feels the same,”** they gasped into their mind, voice full of wonder. All the sorrow they kept at the back of their mind instantly evaporated. **“Eddie, it's him. We can feel it.”**

Eddie stroked his beard thoughtfully.

 _‘If you're right and he is, in fact, alive,’_ he thought, 't _he son of a bitch has a hell of explaining to do.’_

 

~~~

 

They arrived in New York a couple of hours later, and followed Flash through the crowded streets while he chatted incessantly about everything and nothing in particular.

 **“He's nervous,”** the symbiote noticed. Indeed, Flash spoke too quickly and with forced cheer, his words relaxed but his shoulders tense. He also looked back at them a lot, as if to make sure that they were still following him.

Eddie nodded, having caught on as well. He was a journalist, after all; reading people was like second nature.

 _‘We'll keep an eye on him,’_ he replied, _‘see where he leads us. In the worst case, we'll have to fight our way out. How are you feeling?’_

 **“Strong enough to protect us both,”** they snuck out a tendril to give his hand a reassuring squeeze. **“Won't fail you again, Eddie.”**

_‘You could never fail me, darling.’_

Their grip tightened.

Flash led them to one of the nicer areas of New York (Eddie knew that it was nice because he's never been there.) The houses were arranged in neat rows, each with a veranda and a uniform lawn. They looked quite idyllic, completely different from the flats and hotel rooms they were used to.

They stopped in front of a rather unremarkable house. Flash seemed to relax a little as he took out a set of keys and opened the door.

“Andi,” he called out into the empty hallway, “I'm back!”

The symbiote perked up. Andi?

There was a brief silence shattered only by the sound of quickly approaching steps. Moments later, a violet-haired woman appeared in the doorway. Eddie recognised her instantly from the memories his Other pushed at him.

Andi popped a bubble of gum, eyeing the three of them for a moment.

“Eddie Brock, we assume?” she inquired. There was something about her voice… something familiar.

Eddie nodded. “That's me. And you're Andi, right?”

A nod. “Come on in, then.”

“They’re grumpy that I ate all the pizza in the fridge,” Flash grinned at them, holding the door open. “Don't mind them - they're a great duo.”

“They?” they frowned, and then it clicked.

 **“Mania!”** Joy flooded their mind as they laughed, picking Andi up and giving her a twirl.

Andi’s black lips curved into a reluctant smile.

“Yeah yeah,” she hummed, “they're okay.”

Indeed, they had to set her - _them_ \- down as the symbiote took over, sprouting spikes all over their body. They grinned up at them.

**“‘Sup, big guy,”**

Venom grinned back as Eddie did everything he could to resist the impulse of ruffling their spike-hair.

The moment was a bit ruined by a door slamming as Flash came back from… wait, did he go anywhere? They didn't even notice - holding a plate of chocolate cookies.

“We have a lot to talk about,” he said.

~~~

They sat in the living room, Mania sprawling themselves all over one of the armchairs while Eddie took the other. Flash plopped down on the sofa, detaching his prosthetics with a cookie in his mouth.

“I thuppothe that I owe you guyth an ecthplanathion,” he said, a rain of crumbs falling on his jeans. “Gimme a thec.”

“Need a hand?” Andi asked as Mania inhaled their fifth cookie.

“Nah, ‘s good.” he took the cookie out of his mouth and ate it. “Alright, I'm done. Sorry.”

“Don't worry about it,” Eddie replied, a courtesy more than anything. Seeing Mania well again was nice and the cookies were delicious, but neither he nor his Other would mind getting to the point. “Ready when you are.”

Flash sighed, playful façade melting. He suddenly looked very, _very_ tired.

“I've been researching Project: Oversight for a while now,” he began. “It's what the Maker is part of. I broke into their facility a couple months ago with every intention of blowing it all up.”

 **“He went alone,”** Mania chipped in. **“You know, like an idiot.”**

He ignored them. “It…it didn't end well. I barely made it out of there alive, and had to go into hiding for a bit, recover, fake my own death so that they'd stay off my back, you know.”

“You _did_ almost die,” Andi reached for another cookie. “I've seen sieves with fewer holes in them.”

Venom almost spat out the cookie they were eating. **“You could've called!”** they roared, their anger only partially belonging to the symbiote. **“And we thought Eddie was a dumbass!”**

“Yeah dude,” Eddie added, “You're worse than me!”

“You went off alone against a god,” Flash remarked dryly.

**“We had help from two other people, including Spiderman, and a fuck load of guns. That's two more than what you had.”**

**“They have a point,”** Mania stood up. **“‘sides, it was only one dragon; you had a whole armed facility against you. We're gonna get more cookies.”**

Flash nodded, waving them away. “It was a dumb move, I agree,” he said, “but my false death gave me an edge over them.” He looked around and lowered his voice. “I stole the sample they were keeping, the one of the dragon symbiote.”

Eddie gasped. He remembered the Maker saying something about someone breaking into the facility and-

**“Do you still have it?”**

Flash shook his head. “It's destroyed,” he said. “I made sure of it.”

They nodded, relieved, and relaxed a little. **“It's good to see you again, Flash.”**

He grinned. “Thanks, guys. I've only heard about your capture after you broke out.” The smile wavered. “Sorry I couldn't help you.”

Faster than a bullet, the symbiote shot out of Eddie's shoulder and slammed into Flash’s chest, knocking him back a little.

He laughed, “I missed you too, buddy!” he said, cradling the black mass close to his chest as it sank into his body. “Yeah yeah, I'm good. All healed up, see? Yeah, I've been taking care of myself, even got a new set of legs,” he patted the prosthetics lying next to him.

Eddie watched the exchange with a smile, frantically ignoring the growing terror clawing at his insides. The symbiote’s rapid and unexpected departure left him out of breath and hollow, the silence in his mind bringing back memories from the past few weeks, still raw and vivid like open wounds.

 _‘Pull yourself together,’_ he growled at himself as panic crawled up his throat. _‘They're fine, they're literally sitting opposite of you. They'll come back in a minute and you'll be okay.’_ Damned separation anxiety.

Besides, they weren't in any sort of danger; just having a long overdue chat with their friend.

Their _friend,_ he felt the need to emphasise as another doubt crept into his mind to fill the void. They made their choice already, said so themselves. There was no point in this stupid jealousy. He was just being immature.

_‘Get over it, Brock!’_

“Right,” Flash ran his fingers through his hair. “So what have you two been up to? Really this time.”

And then, to Eddie's surprise (though he told himself that he shouldn't be surprised,) the symbiote oozed out of him and, after crawling down the couch and up the armchair, snaked around his arm, sinking into his skin.

It felt like coming home. All his doubts and anxieties melted away faster than he could notice. The silence was gone, the loneliness was gone…

He was whole.

A chuckle in their shared mindscape. **“I was only gone for five minutes.”**

 _‘I know,’_ he replied, ' _and I'm okay. I remember what you said. I just… need to get used to it.’_

They rose out of their shoulder to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

Flash watched them with a smile, chin propped up on his hand. Mania, who came back with a plate of triple chocolate chip cookies when they weren't paying attention, cleared their throat.

**“So, when's the wedding?”**

Eddie laughed. _‘Whenever you want, darling.’_

His Other rolled their eyes, extending a tendril to grab a cookie from the coffee table and stuff it into their mouth.

Together, they recounted the events before and following Knull’s revelation, spoke about Rex, about the fight with the dragon, about Flash's codex (“They must've taken it when I first broke in.” **“Yeah, pretty sure you've left more of your blood there than inside your body, and yet you still managed to ruin the carpet.”** ), and the weeks that followed. Eddie did most of the talking since his Other didn't remember much of it.

“...so then we caught a bus back to New York, met this loser over there,” they pointed at Flash, who made a face at them, “and here we are.”

The room was silent for a minute. Even Mania sank back beneath Andi’s skin.

It was actually Andi who spoke first, softly, all sass and playfulness gone from her voice.

“I'm… sorry that you had to go through all this,” she said. “It's… I know it's not technically the same, but I felt a similar thing when Mania left.”

The symbiote emerged from her skin to wrap around her neck like a scarf. She smiled just a little, giving their semi-serpentine head an affectionate stroke.

“I'm glad that you two are okay again.”

“Me too,” Flash chimed in. “You sound like you've been through hell.”

Eddie nodded, pushing all the memories back into the darkest corners of their mind where they belonged. His Other nuzzled against their cheek.

 **“Irrelevant,”** they said. **“It's all over now, no point bringing it up ever again.”**

And so they didn't. Instead, Andi brought up a story from Flash’s days as her coach, sparking an exchange of embarrassing anecdotes which left all bad memories gone and forgotten.

 

~~~

 

They talked until sunset, at which point Eddie gave Flash one last hug (almost snapping a few of his ribs in the process, or so Flash said,) and they were gone, having exchanged phone numbers and promising to stay in touch as soon as Eddie actually got himself a phone.

Andi watched the door shut behind them, hands folded on her chest.

“Are you going to tell them?” she asked as Flash turned the key. “About You-Know-Whom.”

He shook his head. “Too risky. Besides, I think they'd flip.”

“True.”

Most of their story was true; Flash indeed broke into the Maker's facility a few times, and indeed stole the sample of the dragon symbiote.

He smirked as he reached the door to his room. There was just a teeny tiny little lie he might have slipped into their conversation.

The symbiote sitting in the old pickle jar perked up when he threw open the closet door. They swirled around the small container as he unscrewed the lid, and eagerly sank into his body as soon as he lifted it.

“Hey, buddy,” he chuckled. “Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. Didn't want to take any risks.”

He had snuck upstairs and hid them while Eddie and Symby were talking to Andi. It wasn't that he didn't trust them; just the fewer people knew about this little buddy of his, the better.

After all, Grendel was a bit of a big deal, even when weakened.

Which brought them to… “You need a new name.”

The symbiote hummed, diving into his memories. Their preferred form was a dragon (though they were still too weak to even attempt to shapeshift), so why not…

**“Draco?”**

_‘Too obvious, and reminds me of that guy from Harry Potter.’_

**“Vecna?”**

_‘No, that would be more apt for your previous host. And anyways, Vecna was a lich.’_

**“Liches are cool.”**

_‘Not as cool as dragons.’_

They laughed, a sharp, growling sound. **“True. Falkor?”**

_‘Has some potential.’_

**“Viserion?”**

_‘Too long.’_

**“Charizard?”**

_‘I'm not letting us call ourselves after a fucking Pokémon!”_

They huffed. **“How about Paarthurnax?”**

Flash rubbed his chin. Huh.

_‘You know what, that would be kickass. Keep digging around that.’_

**“Glaedr?”**

_‘Getting there…’_

**“Firkraag? Smaug? Balrog? Bhaal?”**

_‘Whoa! As sick as it'd be to run around as the dead god of murder, you're getting a bit far into the evil side.’_

Another huff. **“Fair enough. Tiberius?”**

_‘Gettin’ warmer.’_

**“Thorn? Nadarr?”**

“Hang on! Are you suggesting that we name ourselves after my high school D&D character?”

**“Why not? They're a dragonborn, so it fits. I can make us look the part, too.”**

Flash lit up like a Christmas tree. _‘You could?’_

**“Of course.”**

_‘Holy. Shit.’_

In another room, Mania felt the beginnings of yet another headache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cookies for those who can guess where all the names the symbiote mentioned are from.


	5. Chapter 5

It took a lot of saving up, a small loan here and there, and some crashing on Flash's couch, but they did it.

They finally bought a new apartment.

And not a shithole one like they were used to, no! This one was large and well lit, large windows facing away from the street and thus making it possible to lean out without immediately choking on smoke and car exhaust fumes. The building was a quiet and clean one, with a little plot of green at the back for the kids to play football on. It was… genuinely nice for once, Eddie thought as they set down the last box of their very humble belongings on the coffee table they got from some secondhand store.

It was a little bland, yes, because they didn't have much furniture yet, but so far they had yet to spot mould, rats, water stains, or flaking paint. The walls have been painted a uniform colour everywhere and the floorboards didn't squeak. Their landlord had said that the walls were soundproof and the apartment below was empty, so they could do whatever they wanted.

_They could do whatever they wanted._

Eddie giggled, falling back on the grey-but-didn’t-start-out-that-way couch. His Other stirred inside their chest cavity, their excitement rising up like bubbles.

 **“We still can't believe it!”** they trilled, seeming to bounce around their body like a sooty pinball ball. Eddie found the image insanely adorable.

He laughed, giving them a little nudge to come out, and hugged them when they did.

“Me neither, my love,” he whispered as they nuzzled against him. “Me neither.”

They felt strangely out of place in their new apartment, like a can of beef in the middle of a fancy five-course dinner. It felt so…

...good.

They stood up and began to unpack. Most of the things they owned came from, like the furniture, secondhand stores because previously they moved around too much to bother with buying stuff.

First came the books: some basic cookbooks, a thriller or two here, some fantasy book from Eddie's childhood there, and a tome of tourist attractions elsewhere - just in case they ever wanted to go on a road trip. Add in a couple of self-care guides and some manuals for successful adulting, and they had quite a bookshelf.

Then came the clothes, folded up and placed in the chest of drawers in their bedroom (with a bed! Not a bare mattress but an actual _bed!!!)_

Everything else they weren't sure where to put went on the table for later consideration.

Eddie hummed as they worked, some cheesy pop song that came on the radio the other day and wormed its way into their head. His Other fished out his phone (shiny and new!) and opened the YouTube app.

 **“Sing-along, Eddie,”** they chirped, trying to key in the title with a tendril. The touchscreen seemed to have issues picking it up, so they took over Eddie's fingers instead.

“Whatever you want, darling,” he chuckled as the silence around them was pierced by the singer's high, upbeat voice. The sound echoed a bit because the room was still mostly empty, but it was nice nonetheless as this mountain of a man and his alien lover sang along to Britney Spears while furnishing their new apartment. It turned into a dancing contest halfway through.

Let that image sink in for a moment, dear reader, so that you can understand just what we were robbed of by the loud knock on the door.

Eddie shut the music off immediately, head whipping towards the sound. It was an instinct at this point, one they had developed after one too many visits from the FBI/police/army/Spiderman/all of the above/etc. They approached the door carefully, and slowly, ever so slowly, pressed the handle.

On the other side there stood a man.

He was short (at least from Eddie's 6’3 perspective) with black hair styled like he was the villain of some shitty video game or anime. His outfit matched the aesthetic perfectly.

A wave of memories flooded Eddie's side of the brain. Pain. Misery. Anger. Terrible, terrible things that the symbiote never wanted to repeat. Each memory was like a ball of needles - painful no matter how you grasped it. All those memories, shards of glass stuck in their mind, were connected to one man and one man only: the one who stood before them.

Lee Price...

...who cleared his throat impatiently, looking like he had approximately fifty other, better things to do than being here.

“Eddie Brock, I presume?” he asked.

Eddie nodded stiffly.

“I've heard that you're back, and that you have something of mine.”

Something. An item. A possession made only to be used and abused and discarded to his heart's content. The symbiote shrank back, retreating into the very deepest recesses of their mind. So much fear. So much hurt. It made their whole body ache, an emotional phantom pain.

Eddie took a step back, smiling politely. “Yeah, man, sure. Come on in.”

Lee did, seeming surprised at his compliance. As soon as he crossed the threshold, Eddie closed the door behind him.

He turned the lock.

Their landlord had said that the walls were soundproof and the apartment below was empty, so they could do whatever they wanted, and right now there were quite a few things Eddie wanted to do to the man standing in front of him.

His smile widened, exposing teeth.

~~~

By the time he was done, the body of the man known as Lee Price could no longer be recognised as human.

Eddie stood above the broken, bloodied mess, panting heavily as blood dripped from his knuckles. Some of it was his. Most of it was Lee’s. Lee’s blood was also all over his clothes and the carpet, and in some places on the walls. They will probably have to paint over it. Thank god most of it was soaked into the carpet. It was an ugly carpet, anyway, and they were planning to get a new one.

**“Eddie,”**

A snap back to reality. Suddenly, their senses were hit by the overwhelming stench of blood and the searing pain that radiated from their arms. And exhaustion. They were so tired.

They fell to their knees, blood seeping through the fabric of Eddie's jeans.

“I…” he struggled to get the words out. “I think… I think I killed him.”

He did. Eddie Brock. Not Venom. He killed Lee Price with his bare hands.

The realisation was still sinking in as the symbiote curled around him, healing the wounds on his hands and mending the fingers he didn't even realise were broken.

 **“Eddie,”** they soothed, wrapping their tendrils around him in attempt to calm their racing heart. **“It's okay, love, you only wanted to protect us. He deserved it. It's okay.”**

Eddie sighed, embracing them in return.

“I know, my darling,” he muttered. “I just wish you didn't have to see it. To see me like… like this.”

He saw himself through their memories; a ferocious, raging beast landing blow after blow on the pitiful man beneath. His face was twisted in a grimace of fury, teeth grit in a feral snarl as his fists turned Lee’s face into minced meat with bloodied bone shards sticking out of it. He kept on attacking even after Lee had stopped moving, every punch a response to a memory, a scar he had left on his Other. His hands tore through skin and muscle, crushed bones as if they were matchsticks, the roar of blood in his ears drowning out Lee’s screaming.

Eddie was terrifying, even to himself.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to see me like this.”

He didn't want to be a violent man. He wanted to be better, to be a hero worthy of his Other's love. They had killed people, many times, but not like this. Never like this. He didn't regret killing Lee - the man had hurt his Other, after all, but the way he did it...

He began to tremble, looking down at his hands, red and sticky with blood. The stench was overwhelming. He didn't need the symbiote to be a monster. He already was one.

“Please forgive me,” he choked out, throat suddenly tight, making it difficult to draw a breath. “I don't want to scare you.” His eyes were burning.

The symbiote curled around him, blackness flowing over his body and hiding the bloodstains. They closed their eyes.

 **“It's okay,”** they repeated, standing up. **“It's okay. It's okay.”**

~~~

Eddie didn't remember how they got rid of… whatever remained of the body, but he regained awareness in the shower about two hours later. The warm water made their muscles relax just a little.

_‘Love?’_

**“It's okay,”** came the reply. **“We'll talk once you wash the blood off.”**

He nodded mechanically, reaching for the sponge. The blood had dried up, so it took some scrubbing to get it to come off, but they managed in the end.

Since Eddie's clothes were good for nothing, the symbiote shifted into a simple black shirt and pants. Together, they left the bathroom, bare feet hitting the cold linoleum floor as they entered the living room.

_‘You got rid of the carpet too?’_

**“We wanted to replace it, anyway.”**

Eddie cracked a smile and headed for the couch. There was a blanket thrown over it, a bit threadbare and clashing horribly with its colour, but it would do. They wrapped it around themselves as sat down. The faint smell of death still lingered in the air.

“I'm sorry,” he repeated.

 **“It's okay,”** his Other replied in return.

“I don't want you to think I'm a monster.”

**“I don't. You're not.”**

“I hurt you.”

**“I hurt you, too. We both made bad choices in the past.”**

“No,” Eddie shook his head. “I… you were sick, scared, fighting Knull’s influence and I… I just silenced you with pills.”

They could both still remember it clearly even though the god felt like a fever dream they had in another life. It wasn't that long ago, Eddie thought.

“I should have comforted you, helped you through that, but I didn't. I was scared, too scared to think about how you must have felt. I was selfish. I was a bad person.”

**“Eddie-”**

“Not as bad as Lee, yeah, but still a bad person.” He looked down at their hands, still a little pinker than they should be. “Love, I want to be good to you.”

They seeped out of their body, creating a smaller approximation of Venom like in that park. They opened their arms, and Eddie leaned in eagerly as they gathered him close to their chest, lying back a little and using a few tendrils to pull the blanket over them.

“I want to be good to you,” he repeated, more quietly this time. “I want to be worthy of the love you give me.”

They planted a kiss in his hair, a gesture so tender that it made breath hitch in his throat.

 **“You already are worthy,”** they told him, the embrace tightening ever so slightly. It made Eddie realise just how ridiculously touch starved he was. **“The sheer fact that you recognise your past mistakes and wish to remedy them makes you a good person.”**

“B-but…” his voice cracked pathetically. A tendril nudged his chin, making him look up.

 **“We both have a lot to learn,”** his Other told him, a clawed hand caressing his cheek so gently that it hurt. **“We both made many mistakes, but we can learn from them, use them to improve.”**

Eddie didn't trust himself to speak.

_‘I'm afraid that I'll hurt you. That I'll become a monster like Lee was.’_

**“You won't,”** they kissed him, projecting the next words into their mind. **"We know you won't."**

_‘You cannot know that.’_

**“We know your mind, Eddie. You are a scarred, rough, and complicated person, but you are not a monster, nor do you have the predispositions to become one. You lashed out at Lee because you wanted to protect us, protect me, from him, make him pay for all the damage he caused, free the world from his presence.”**

They pulled away, the symbiote’s eyes staring intensely into Eddie's, the words they spoke ringing with sincerity.

**“You are a hero, Eddie Brock. You saved me first from Knull, and now from Lee.”**

Love flooded their mental connection, displacing every single other emotion in Eddie's mind. It was like a tidal wave, a tsunami of a feeling so overwhelming that he wanted to weep. Never in his entire life did he feel so much affection directed at him. It wasn't fondness, nor was it the feeling they always shared. It was, in fact, love in its purest form; the kind capable of falling armies, crumbling mountains, traversing deserts and oceans just for one sight of the person who means the entire world to you.

If Eddie still needed evidence that he was that person, there it was.

 **_“My_ ** **hero.”**

The words carried so much warmth that their heart seemed to burn as Eddie buried his face in the crook of his Other's neck, too overwhelmed to speak, his mind a broken record of _‘thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you’_ played over and over into their shared brainscape.

They stayed like that for a while, the symbiote threading their claws into Eddie's hair while the latter desperately tried to get a grip on his emotions.

_‘I don't deserve you,’_

**“True. You deserve infinitely better, but we'll have to make do with what you were given.”**

He laughed a broken laugh that sounded more like a sob. _‘There is no being in the universe more magnificent than you, my love.’_

**“Have you looked in the mirror today?”**

_‘I have, as a matter of fact, and what I witnessed only confirmed my opinion.’_

Damn it! They forgot that sometimes Eddie's reflection took on the appearance of Venom.

 _‘Don't pick battles you can't win,’_ he giggled into their neck, and draped an arm over their shoulder in a quasi-hug. There was a pause before he found the words he wanted to say.

“Thank you for choosing me,” he murmured. “I might not be the best catch in the galaxy, but I promise that I'll make it worth your time.”

His Other chuckled, their whole body vibrating with the sound.

 **“We know you will, love** ,” they hummed. **“You could start by singing for us.”**

“Only if we sing together.”

**“We'll always sing together.”**

Their form melted, sinking back into Eddie's skin only to surge outwards, enveloping him completely until the two of them became one.

Their love wasn't perfect, but it was true, and they were both learning how to be better for each other. Whatever the future had in store for them, they would face it together.

Venom made themselves more comfortable on the couch and cleared their throat.

 _Love was just a glance away, a warm embracing dance away_  
_Ever since that night_  
_We've been together_  
_Lovers at first sight_  
_In love forever_  
_It turned out so right_  
_For strangers in the night._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand that's a wrap! Thank you all so much for tagging along for the ride. It's been tons of fun writing this self-indulgent middle finger to Donny Cates, and I continue to be absolutely floored by your lovely comments. 
> 
> Consider this chapter a late Christmas present ^_^ have a happy 2019, everyone!
> 
> If you want to chat, I'm shadowy-dumbo-octopus on Tumblr and Positive #2093 on Discord.


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